


Rogue Undercover

by apples_only



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Episode: s02e03 Family of Rogues, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Undercover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-04-30 02:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5146124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apples_only/pseuds/apples_only
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We’re offering you a deal.” For a second, Snart’s face showed a hint of surprise.</p><p>“What kind of deal?”	</p><p>“The DA is willing to view your father’s death as self defense. In exchange you take one of our officers as your date to the Santini Christmas party next month and bug the place.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Deal

David Singh looked at the man before him. Leonard Snart stared back, arrogance pouring off him even though he was shackled to the table. He had been looking forward to seeing him like this since Snart and Rory had escaped during their transport to Iron Heights. Well. Nothing was ever perfect.  
“We’re offering you a deal.” For a second, Snart’s face showed a hint of surprise.

“What kind of deal?” 

“The DA is willing to view your father’s death as self defense. In exchange you take one of our officers as your date to the Santini Christmas party next month and bug the place.”

“And if I don’t?”

“The only reason we are considering this deal is the Flash’s statement that your father threatened your life, your sister’s, and his.”

That and the Santini’s human trafficking ring. They needed to stop them more than they needed to stop Snart, not that the man needed to know how desperate they were.

“He might be considered a hero, but it’s questionable whether his word holds up in court as long as we don’t know his real identity. Not to mention your files which have mysteriously disappeared. I’m sure with enough digging, we could find some copies or old witnesses somewhere.”

Snart’s face remained unimpressed, but his eyes seemed calculating. Finally, he spoke.  
“One condition. I choose the date.”

*******

When Len was led into a room the next day, he was still in handcuffs but at least they didn’t shackle him to anything again. He would be stupid to jeopardize the deal, and they knew he wasn’t stupid. The room was bigger than the interrogation room, with several white boards, tables and seats occupied by several police officers. Len didn’t recognize any of them and was not at all disappointed by that. He was led to a chair close to the whiteboards, in front of which the other captain went.

The police captain took a look around the room before sighing “Where’s Allen?” in the exact moment the door burst open to reveal a dishevelled Barry Allen, who apparently hadn't had time to button up his shirt correctly but had a coffee cup in his hand. Len wondered whether this was part of the kids cover, exaggerating his late arrival. If it was, it was brilliant. If it wasn't, Len couldn't help but wonder what exactly had kept the speedster so busy that he hadn't been able to make it on time. In any case, he was pleasantly surprised that he was here – he hadn't thought the forensic scientist would be directly involved in an undercover case, but apparently luck was on his side for once and would make this whole thing a lot easier.

“Sorry I’m late Captain!”

Judging by the captain's look and the finger pointing at the seat right next to Len, this was not the first meeting the speedster had been late for. Len was reminded of high school while the speedster took the seat with only a glance at Len. Must have been aware of the deal beforehand then, Len noted.

“Now that we’re all here,” Captain Singh looked directly at Barry, “I will try to keep this short. We have already talked about most of this before, and now with Snart offering his help,” Len bit back a snort and put on his most insufferable grin, “we finally have an in to the Santini’s main house. I don’t have to tell you what kind of chance this is.”

There were agreeing murmurs around the room.

“Officers Miller and Hernandez have volunteered to go undercover as Snart’s date.”  
Singh continued, gesturing at two women sitting opposite of Len and Barry, one offering a small smile, the other doing her best to look disinterested.

“Both have already done undercover work in the past, and Hernandez actually worked with STAR Labs to build some the surveillance tech we’ll use. Obviously, It’s crucial that the other guests will believe our officer to be your date. Any preferences, Snart?”

Len took his time looking at both women up and down, before turning to Singh.

“While I’m sure they are both very capable, I’m afraid both would be a rather unbelievable choice. Very sloppy research, I expected more from Central City’s finest.”

“And why is that, exactly?” Singh asked, a hint of annoyance betraying his stern face.

“Because the last time I dated a woman, it was to get my father off my back. Doesn’t seem necessary anymore, does it?”

He smirked at the reactions of the cops around him, mostly confused or surprised looks, and turned slowly towards Barry, leaning closer to him. He was really starting to enjoy this. 

“So, do you have anything planned for Saturday in two weeks?”


	2. A Plan

~Two days earlier~

“He broke my sister’s heart. Only fair I break his.”

Barry was at a loss. Part of him wanted to comfort the other man, though he had no idea how. He doubted Snart would welcome a hug and words had never been his strength. Another part of him was trying to figure out what to do next – the police would arrive any minute and he really should leave this to them. He should just go back to STAR Labs. 

He hesitated. He just couldn’t let Snart go to prison for this. There were a lot of things he deserved to go to prison for but this wasn’t one of them. Especially not when Barry could see so clearly what he had suspected for some time; there was good in Snart and it was locked away in a safe that he couldn’t crack on his own for once.

 

He could hear the footsteps of the police officers announcing their arrival. Okay, he needed to think quickly.  
“Okay. Just– plead the fifth. Don’t say anything before we talk again.”

Snart looked away from his father’s body to look at Barry, brows knit together in confusion. God, Snart was openly showing weakness. He definitely had to get this mess under control, because Snart was clearly not up to it.  
When the officers arrived a few seconds later, Snart was still on the floor, back to staring at his father’s body. While one of the officers put Snart in handcuffs and read him his rights, Barry spoke to the other, telling him that the whole thing was more complicated than it seemed and that he would make a statement at the station later on. Thankfully the officer was one of the newer additions to the precinct and was still a bit star struck by the Flash.  
With one last glance at Snart, Barry ran to STAR labs. 

*****

“Dude, what's going on, where is Snart?” Cisco asked when Barry appeared in the lab .

“Getting arrested. Did you manage to delete--”

“What do you mean, ‘getting arrested’? You just left him?” Lisa came storming at Barry.

“Lisa–” 

”You know he didn’t want to do this!”

“Lisa. I didn't-- please. Listen to me.” Barry held his hands up defensively, tone serious. Lisa must have picked up on his mood, because she stopped her furious questioning. “Lisa.” Barry repeated, trying to find the right words, “Len shot Lewis. He’s dead. There is too much evidence.”  
Lisa just looked at him, the news sinking in slowly.

“He’s really dead?” she finally asked, and somehow seemed more vulnerable than she had during the entire time her life had been in danger. Barry was out of his depth. He had no idea what was going on inside her, or how he should treat her. Was she happy about her father’s death? Did she still care for him, even after what he did to her? Still, he had more urgent things to worry about right now.

“Yes. And Len is in custody for it. But I think we can spin it as self defense.”

“Spin it?” Caitlin asked, obviously not liking what she had heard, “Barry, listen to yourself.”

“I don’t have time. Please trust me on this, I will explain later. Just tell me you managed to erase the surveillance footage.” 

“Of course we did. Can’t have Barrrrr– you. Can’t have you running around without your mask on video, can we?” Cisco answered with nervous laugh and glancing at Lisa.

“Okay. Great. Do you have any scanners that can pick up the kind of bombs that Lewis used?” 

“What? Why?” Caitlin asked.

“”Because I need you to scan Snart’s head”

*****

When Barry arrived at the station, the officers who had arrested Snart were talking with Captain Singh and the DA in the captain's office.  
He greeted them and the captain, his voice disguised.  
“Flash. Apparently you know something about what happend with the Snarts?”

“Leonard Snart was protecting his sister and himself. Do you remember the headless man in the meat truck?”

“Yes. What does that have to do with anything?”

“He worked for Lewis Snart. He put a small bomb into the guy's neck and when he didn’t do what he was told, Lewis detonated it.” Barry paused to let the others digest the information - and a bit for dramatic effect to be honest. “He also put a bomb in Lisa, and we had reason to believe he implanted Leonard with one as well.” 

Well, maybe not believe, but worry. A bit.

“You know a lot about this.” Singh commented.

 

“Lisa came to Cisco Ramon for help, since she thought he could contact me. He and Dr. Snow found the bomb and managed to extract it, but only after Lewis had blackmailed Sna– Leonard into helping him.” Barry hoped this whole thing didn’t sound too rehearsed. He had to get the story straight. “Ramon is on his way with what is left of the bomb and scans they took of Lisa Snart to submit as evidence. And a scanner to check Leonard Snart.”

“You really want us to believe that this guy threatened the life of one of his own children to get one of them to steal diamonds for him?”, the younger officer asked, a new addition to the CCPD. Thomas? Maybe Barry should pay more attention to his colleagues.

“Yes.”

“And that Leonard Snart had no intention to steal these diamonds?” the DA questioned, her disbelief clear.

“I have no idea if he knew or planned anything about the diamonds before Lewis kidnapped him, but it was definitely not his plan. I watched them before I interfered, it was very obvious Leonard didn’t want to work with his father. As for the first question: I have no idea what crimes Lewis went to prison for in the first place, but according to Lisa at least one of them should be child abuse.”  
He felt bad for talking about what Lisa obviously considered a private matter she didn’t like people to know, but he told himself she would be okay with it if it helped her brother. He hoped. He should see if he could take her gun away, just in case she hears about this.

Captain Singh scrutinized him silently before speaking.  
“Why are you so involved in this? Usually you just detain suspects for us to find or drop them off at the station. What makes Snart so special?”

The question caught Barry off-guard. He had been able to explain it to Caitlin and Cisco, but only because they knew about his and Snart’s previous... relationship? Association. Also, Barry hadn’t given anyone at STAR Labs time to really ask questions, figuring asking for forgiveness later would be easier than explaining why this was so important to him. He wasn’t sure he could put it into words. Still, he had to try.  
“Snart… Snart says he is a criminal and that he enjoys it, but – I don’t think he does. I think he wants to be better than this, he just doesn’t think he can be anything else. He – he wouldn’t tell anyone how his father treated him and his sister, not even if it could help him in a trial, he would see it as weakness. I want to make sure these things are taken into account, because he won’t.” 

Singh considered his answer and looked at him in a way that made Barry feel as if he could see all of his secrets. No wonder he made it to captain if that was what suspects had to deal with. Finally, Singh spoke.  
“Do you think he could be trusted to help the CCPD with a case?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kind comments, they made me so happy!  
> Sorry for the wait, unfortunately I'm not a very fast writer. I hope it was worth the wait.  
> This chapter was supposed to be just a short flashback but somehow it continued to grow. Oh well, next chapter will pick where chapter 1 left off. :)


	3. A Decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, but there were some small things I wanted to get right before I posted. Thanks as always to Horchatita for beta-ing <3  
> An thank you for all the kind comments, they really motivate me :D

“So, do you have anything planned for Saturday in two weeks?”

 

Barry stared at Snart. So did most of the other occupants of the room, and those who didn’t were staring at Barry.

“I– whah?” Barry finally managed.

“I want you to be my date. You look a bit young, maybe I’ll just buy a red bike. Run with the midlife-crisis theme.”

“What?” Barry repeated. And then, “Aren’t you too young for a midlife-crisis?” Wait, he didn’t mean to focus on that part.

“Aw, compliments. You’re great at this already.”

“Snart.” Captain Singh cut in, “I am sure we will find someone else who is actually trained to do this kind of work.”

“Too late, I want _him_.”

 

The ensuing noise took Barry by surprise. Everyone in the room was telling Snart to forget it with varying degrees of politeness. Wow, Barry might have even learned a new swear word. But did everybody at the precinct think he couldn’t handle a friggin date and placing some bugs?

“Hey, I could do this!” Great, everybody was focused on him again.

“Allen, this is serious,” Singh frowned disapprovingly. 

“So am I,” Barry insisted, “It’s just one evening, I can pretend to be someone’s boyfriend for one evening.” Was Snart leaning closer to him?

“Can you pretend to be Snart’s boyfriend?”

Yes, definitely leaning closer. Barry glanced over him, could Snart look more smug? Barry moved slightly away. “Sure, I mean, he’s a criminal and all, but like I said, it’s one evening. And we could help a lot of people if we can finally get proof.” 

“Think about this before you decide. And in the mean time we can see if there is someone else who has experience who could go with Snart,” Singh said, eyeing the two of them before looking around the room in hope of an alternative plan.

It made sense that Captain Singh didn’t want to get someone who has never been out in the field getting involved in such a big case, but he didn’t have to treat Barry like a child, he knew his own abilities. It wasn’t like he was planning to go deep cover for two years. Yeah, he had a bit of a problem with being on time, and his reports kinda rambled on and he didn’t spend as much time socializing with his colleagues as was probably polite but he just wasn’t good with small talk. And small talk and socializing would be part of the role he’d have to play if he and Snart went to a party together. Okay, maybe Singh had a point.

And why was he fighting for this anyway? Snart was obviously just trying to get a rise out of him, embarrass him in front of his colleagues who only knew him as an awkward lab rat. Great. Sometimes trying to do the right thing really sucked.

But he had chosen to help Snart, and if that was what it took, he’d pretend to date him at some mafia meeting. The mafia part should probably worry him, but if anything went wrong, he could still leave in a flash.

“I have thought about it. There’s still two weeks until the party, but I’m sure we’ll need to prepare for it and should get started as soon as we can.”

“Barry” Detective Hughes cut in hesitatingly. He was an older officer who had been at the CCPD as long as Joe had and had even babysat Barry and Iris once. “Think about what this would entail. You’d be alone with very dangerous people. If you get caught you could get killed. Would you be able to talk with the people there, knowing what at least some of them are involved in? Do you really think you could convince everybody there that you are Snart’s lover? Could you be affectionate with Snart, knowing he has killed people?”

“Yes, I can. Look, I am aware it’s not going to be easy or fun, but I can do this.”

Captain Singh didn’t look too happy “I guess that is settled then.”

*******

The rest of the meeting mostly exchanging information and Barry glancing at him, probably thinking he wouldn’t notice. Also cops glaring or, in the case of two younger cops, looking at Barry like he had just declared he was going to take on a meta human with a spoon as his only weapon. Still, he had been able to negotiate some improvement to his stay at the CCPD and might even be able to get out before the party, since he had pointed out that his sister was also invited. If the relationship was serious enough to bring someone to a gathering like the Santini’s party, it would certainly not believable that Lisa didn’t know him.

He had never had had a great opinion of the Santinis, but finding out they were involved in human trafficking had been unexpected. Had he known about this before, he might have found a reason to visit them with Lisa and Mick, show them what they thought about these kinds of crimes. Though seeing that dick Rafael behind bars while he was a free man was certainly something to look forward to. Still, important to not seem too eager, let the cops think he was doing it just for the deal and not because he actually agreed with them.

When he was led back to his cell, he noticed that the glaring had apparently spread through the entire precinct. He was used to cops not being happy to see him, but this was somehow different. And when the officer had closed the cell door behind him, he found out why the cops’ attitude had changed.

  
“Listen, Snart. I don’t know what game you think you’re playing. But if you lay one finger on that kid, you will have a lot of very angry cops after you. There’s a lot of us who care about him, so don’t even think about trying anything.”

He ignored the threat and sat down on his bed. Someone must have used one of the breaks to share some of the events. Good to know the CCPD was above gossiping, especially when he was trusting them to keep his involvement with them from the Santinis.

 

*******

When Barry left the meeting room, he went straight back to his lab. He needed to have some time alone to think about what he got himself into. But when he stepped into the room, he found Joe already waiting for him.  
“Hi Joe.”

Joe simply looked at Barry in that way only not-angry-just-disappointed parents could.  
“I guess you have heard about me working with Snart, huh?”

No reaction. Not good.  
“Look. I know you think this is a bad idea, but I think if we give him a chance, he could change. You don’t know him like I do, there is good in him. He loves his sister and he cares about this city. If we can show him he doesn’t have to be a criminal, that he can protect both of them by being one of the good guys I think he could be a great ally.”

While Barry had been speaking, Joe’s eyebrows had slowly shifted from being knit together in worry to climbing up his face in disbelief.  
“Know him, Barry? You have met maybe a handful of times, most of which he tried to kill you or he betrayed you.”

“You didn’t see him when he was with Lewis, how much he hurt when his sister was in danger. How he looked when he found out we were trying to save Lisa or when we did save her. He is – I know he is dangerous, that he has done terrible things, but it’s because he thinks he’s no good for anything else. He just needs to know that it’s not too late to change.”

“Oh Barry”, sighed Joe, “This is Daniel all over again, isn’t it?”

“What? No!” Barry exclaimed, eyes wide in shock, “I don’t have a crush on him!”

“That’s what you said about Daniel.”

“Yeah, because I was still in the closet. Which I am not anymore. I admit Snart is kinda hot, but he’s not my type.”

“Right. Bad boy with a motorbike and a rap sheet, who just needs someone to understand him and show him the light. Sounds nothing like Daniel.”

“I – that’s…” a fairly good description of his crush in sophomore year at high school. Also the guy he had dated in college he hadn’t told Joe about, mainly because it was more of a three night stand than a real relationship. But this was completely different. Snart might have played a small role in one or two fantasies he’d had, but that was a far cry from a crush. It wasn’t fair. Joe shouldn’t be able to make him feel guilty for something he hadn’t done. Wasn’t doing. Feeling. Whatever.  
“I’m not crushing on him.”

“I know you’re old enough to make your own decisions, the last year has shown that. But if you are going to do this, I need to know you’re following your head here, not just your heart. No one would think less of you if you decided not to go undercover. Promise me you will think about this.”

“I will. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Joe put his hand on Barry’s shoulder on his way out, “You’re my son Barry, worrying is my job.”

**Author's Note:**

> A BIG thank you to horchatita for beta reading!
> 
> You can find my Coldflash tumblr at [coldflash-only.tumblr.com](http://coldflash-only.tumblr.com)


End file.
